Shadow Hearts: Covenant

"The Original Was Good, This Improves On It, Offering One Of The Best Gaming Experiences Available"

The original Shadow Hearts was a great game, and it's ending was one of the saddest I'd ever seen. I didn't expect there to be a sequel, but having played it, I'm glad there is one, because it tears apart the first game and leaves you questioning everything that happened in it. In effect, this game does what few games have ever done; not only does it make me want to replay this game, but also the original, just to see it through against with this fresh perspective.

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Storyline (8/10)
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The game leads on from the events in the previous Shadow Hearts game, using the ‘bad' ending. However, if you haven't played the first, don't despair since this game takes the time to explain the events in manageable doses. Yuri has taken to protecting the town of Domremy, where Alice's grandfather lives, from the German army. However, soon after meeting Karin, a curse is put on Yuri by Nicolai of the mysterious organisation Sapientes Gladio. Thus, the party embarks on their quest to save Yuri and also the world from the threat of this cult-like group.

The storyline sounds a bit cliché, but is written extremely well and flows perfectly for the simple reason that saving the world is second. While the people you fight against may be trying to destroy the world, the plot revolves more around the events of the previous game. There are also a number of interesting twists that make the storyline far more intriguing than most other games. The characters themselves are varied, and while the majority are extremely well developed and thought through, this is also the area that loses the game some points. They have continued their fascination with including extremely annoying characters; in the first we had Hailey and in this one we get Anastasia. While important to the plot at times, she overstays her welcome and really just has far too many lines where she doesn't need them.

The other strong point of this game is it's ending. While many games don't really offer a suitable reward for having gone through all the effort of playing it, Shadow Hearts Covenant gives you an ending that not only ties up all the loose ends but gives some twists that make you appreciate the characters and how they interact all the more. However you do have to appreciate that playing this is really going to ruin your experience of playing the first game if you hadn't played it beforehand.

Comedy is also an aspect of this game that excels, since many games attempt to be fun and fail miserably. It's not overly done either, which makes it better since it means that game isn't saturated with it. One of the best bits are the dialogs when Joachim finds a random new object to use as a weapon.

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Gameplay (9/10)
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Starting with the judgement ring, since that's the series' unique feature, it's had some major changes made to it since the first game. Now it's a lot more customisable, meaning that if you're not very good at it, you can make changes to make it easier, and likewise, if it's too easy you can power it up, making it harder. Using items, you can change the number of hit areas are on each character's ring, the size of these hit areas and also any status affects that may occur when you attack the enemy. The placement of a lot of the hit areas are a bit dubious since with some characters it's so close to the starting point that it's incredibly easy to miss, and thus losing that character's turn, ultimately meaning you don't use the character. The battles have been sped up a little so they don't take quite so long, which is definitely a good thing, and there's a lot more to do inside the battles. Aside from your normal attacks and magics, each character has their own unique abilities and you can combine attacks to create powerful combos, finishing them off with extremely powerful “combo magic”.

The magic system has been changed so you no longer just learn spells from levelling up. Instead, you have to collect “crests”, which when equipped, give the user the ability to cast the spell contained in that crest. This is kind of similar to the material system used in FFVII, and I prefer magic systems like this because, quite frankly, it makes more sense than just obtaining a new technique every x levels. There's a whole lot of crests out there to find as well, which is a challenge in itself, and on top of this, the crests can be powered up using “Solomon's Key”, which is a grid that you can place each of the crests onto. Each crest has a specific place to be put onto and you have to use the cryptic descriptions given for each crest to work out the correct placement, upon correctly placing each crest of a specific group, they power up, giving new spells to play with.

Along with these battle changes, you are also given little bonuses depending on how well you do in a battle, for example, hitting perfects on every attack or finishing the battle without getting hit. This adds extra challenge and thus makes the boredom of battling a little less dull. Other little things to keep you interested include the return of getting discounts at the shop by stopping the judgement ring in three places, which can be pretty helpful early on in the game. The lottery also makes a return and the prizes are a bit better this time round, although there are a lot more lottery tickets lying around, so it's not quite so bad if you get tissues a few times. Finally, the pedometer is included, and just as with the lottery, the rewards are a lot more attractive this time, especially with one of them being Karin's best armour.

So far I've mainly described the little changes that have been made to things that already existed from the first game, so how does the gameplay of the actual game fare? You'll enter battles at suitable time intervals, which is a blessing, since so many games give you battles far too often so that it takes that much longer to get through an area. The flow of the game is good, and you never spend all that long in a particular area, including dungeons, unless you want to, which helps guard against boredom setting in. The characters you're introduced to are well developed and all play their part in the story well.

In fact, my only major problem with the game was; some of the characters in your party. I already mentioned my personal distain for Anastasia, but it goes beyond that, while she doesn't seem to have an really purpose being in the group, the same can be said of Lucia. Considering her link to Sapenties Gladio, I just feel there's so much they could have done, but didn't, other than linking her to bondage lady, Gepetto sticks around for no real reason, only Joachim can be forgiven due to his lack of intelligence. Overlooking this is easier said than done since they give so many speaking parts Anastasia, but on the whole, if you can ignore this problem then there's considerably little wrong with this game.

Overall, everything about the game is solid and not just well done, but well thought through. There are a great deal of side quests that range from dungeons, to a battle arena, to a treasure hunt where you're given clues and have to try and find a hidden item. The only problem is that at the beginning of the game you're showered with these optional extras to the extent that it can get a little confusing, but it soon subsides and allows you to sit back and examine the quests you have. Most the dungeons aren't available until the end of the game, making them practically useless, but they are there to give you an extra challenge and keep you with things to do. Gameplay wise, this game could well be an example of the perfect game; you're offered a lot to do and the game flows at a manageable rate. The characters are well developed and never do anything that goes against what you have come to expect from them. The twists in the tale are extremely well done and far surpass the writing of any game I can think of from my loved Breath Of Fire series to the overrated Final Fantasy series.

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Graphics (8/10)
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Not nearly as dark and gothic as the original, the environments are far brighter and detailed and extremely well drawn. They are also now completely 3D, as opposed to the 2D backgrounds used in the first. The characters are very well designed and drawn, with a high level of detail. The animations are fluid and look nice both on the field and in battle, as well as the special effects. The monsters are also a lot better designed, as the first had some extremely odd creations, but thankfully it's a lot less overdone in this game and instead have creatures that look “natural”. Everything about the game looks really nice, the things keeping it from scoring higher are;

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Sounds (8/10)
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For the most part, the sounds used in the game are pretty good. The background music used in all situations fits the mood well, and the battle music is a definite improvement from the original game's. The sound effects, such as the little soundbites used in battles, are just as good. The game does have voice acting, which is where it falls short a little. In places, the voice acting is of a decent enough quality, nothing special, but is good enough and the voices give another dimension to each of the characters. However, in other places, the voice acting falls apart completely and the emphasis and emotion of what's being said can be all over the place.

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Lifespan (9/10)
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Ignoring side quests, the game takes a pretty impressive 30-40 hours to complete and providing an entertaining experience for most if not all of that, something a lot of games can't claim. On top of this there are a great number of side quests and optional dungeons to complete. Including these adds at least another ten hours onto your experience. Unfortunately, once you've completed the game once, you're most likely not going to want to go through it again since there are a great number of cutscenes. However, even without this, the game lasts a good number of hours and thus is well worth the price. If you can muster the patience to sit through the cutscenes another time, there is plenty to occupy you with the dungeons and collecting all the crests.

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Summary (9/10)
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This game accomplishes many things; not only is it an awesome sequel, but offers enough explanation of the storyline to stand alone as an individual game. It builds well on the genre and makes a lot of effort to provide unique gameplay aspects. They provide comic relief only when appropriate and offer things that are actually funny, which is a rarity in itself. While it's hard to call anything a perfect game, this is one of the best games I have played in a long time and is a far superior game to anything not just Squaresoft/Enix but anyone else has come up with in recent times. I haven't played the next game in the series yet, and in a way I'm not looking forward to it since this game did so much to endear Yuri and Karin to me and the next one doesn't feature them, as far as I'm aware.

This is one of the best gaming experiences available; it has a wonderful storyline, backed up by solid gameplay, and a wealth of side activities to keep you playing. In a market that's being filled up with generic FPS games, this is a game that never did get the coverage it deserved. Fortunately, those who know of the game seem to continue to support it, since the series gets to continue. Hopefully, it's a series that will continue to be around for some time.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/22/07